After making history by sealing our place in the last eight of the Women’s FA Cup for the first time, following a comprehensive 5-0 win against Coventry United in the fifth round back in February, the 2019/20 Women’s FA Cup quarter-final is finally upon us!
Karen Hills and Juan Amoros’ side take on Arsenal tomorrow (Saturday 26 September) in the quarter-final, which will be played behind closed doors.
The north London derby kicks off at 5.15pm at Meadow Park and the fixture, which was originally due to be played in March but postponed due to COVID-19, will be broadcast live on BBC Two.
“It feels like we’ve been waiting on this game for a very long time,” Karen commented. “Obviously, we had prepared and were ready to play this match back in March but due to COVID-19, it wasn’t possible. Since then, we’ve welcomed some exciting new players into our squad and there’s been a lot of changes within our team. For us, we’re fully focused on what we need to do tomorrow. We know it’s going to be tough, like it always is against them, but we’ve got our game plan ready and anything can happen in this competition. It’s a one-off game and we’re going into it with positive spirits and ready to give everything.”
Juan added: “It’s a massive game on Saturday, not just for us as a team, but we know how big the north London derby is for the fans. It’s a great fixture to be involved in and we have the chance to make more history for this Club. We’ve come a long way and we feel like we are closing the gap. We’re not going there just to make up the numbers, for us, we want to win, give the fans more to enjoy and be proud of our performance.”
The Gunners, who overcame Lewes in a 2-0 victory at Meadow Park in February to set up our north London derby in the last eight of the competition, have made a strong start to the 2020/21 Barclays FA Women’s Super League campaign with two wins from two matches against Reading and West Ham, scoring 15 goals along the way.
On Arsenal’s strengths, Karen said: “It’s always going to be tough against Arsenal with the calibre of players that they have and they’re a team who have experienced success in this competition. We go into every game wanting to win and we set out to do everything we can to come out on top and coming up against Arsenal tomorrow isn’t going to be any different. We’ve said it before, our preparations for any game, whether it’s in the Cup or in the league, are always the same and we always focus on our own qualities.”
On the prospect of new signing Alex Morgan making her debut for the Club against the Gunners tomorrow, Juan said: “We can’t forget that Alex only arrived in the country last week and has only been involved in a few training sessions with the team, having not played in a year. We’ll need to make a late call on whether she is involved or not, but she is available for selection and eligible to play in the competition, along with our other new signings.”
Should we overcome Arsenal tomorrow, we will meet Leicester City or Manchester City away in the semi-final on Thursday (1 October).
